Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I’m getting caught up on my Harry Potter, having just finished book the third. Originally I was going to try and get Order of the Phoenix read in time for the movie on Wednesday, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I am certainly going to finish book six by 21 July, though.

Anyway, Prisoner of Azkaban has never really been one of my favorites. It’s the only book (thus far) in which Harry doesn’t deal directly with Voldemort, and maybe that’s why. I’ve always just felt like it’s decent, rather than awesome, even with all the foreshadowing that happens.

Starting with: why does Snape hate Harry so much? I mean, Snape has a serious beef with the poor kid, and I feel like the explanations posited in the books are pretty weak. Is Snape really so petty and childish that he resents Harry for being the child of a school rival? I mean, I don’t really have any school rivals, but I would like to think that I would treat their children fairly, if I ended up teaching them. Is it possible that Snape was in love with Lily, and hates Harry because he was spurned by his mother? Yet, at the same time, feels some kind of connection because he’s Lily’s kid? I’m not sure…

But Snape certainly seems hungry for acceptance and public accolades.

More talk about people being inside each other, as well, towards the end of the book when we have the Harry-Dumbledore heart to heart. Dumbledore talks about Harry finding his father in him, which is probably meant metaphorically. But…what if it’s not? Is it possible, as Dumbledore says, that the foursome of childhood friends really did walk the Hogwarts grounds that night?

Which reminds me, speaking of Horcruxes…do souls mature along with their owners, even when separated from the body? Or do they remain frozen in the time that they were removed? I feel like Tom Riddle’s diary captures Voldemort as a teenager, but the teenager knows all about Voldemort’s later life and career. Is this because he is/was part of Voldemort, or because Ginny gave him the scoopage? If so, does he have the same magical knowledge and powers which Voldemort has?

And what is up with the giant squid? He pops up in every book, have you noticed? I think that the squid has a role to play still, because why else would Rowling put him in there? I mean, I love squid, so maybe I have been paying more attention than other people. And this lends ammunition to my “everyone must return to Hogwarts” idea. Oh, yes.

I also note that this is the third book in which an intelligent magical “creature” has been introduced. In the frist we meet the centaurs, sentient beings with immense powers and abilities. In the second we see Dobby the house elf, who is clearly intelligent and extremely magical. Next, we meet Lupin, who I guess is technically not a magical creature, but he does sort of turn into one. I wonder where Rowling is going with this…